Two area musicians are having a monstrously good time with their latest project.
Sam Lemos, who attended Boulder City schools, and Jean-Francois Thibeault formed the Nik Naks a month ago and just produced their first album.
“We decided to just start pushing everything,” according to Lemos, “get everything going all at once.”
Inspired by their children, the duo wrote a song titled “My Best Friend is a Monster” and partnered with visual artists Mike and Dasha Biggs of Las Vegas to create a book and plush toy to go along with it.
“The song is about a kid who has a monster friend,” Lemos said. “Having a monster in a song is a good opportunity to make something cool visually.”
As a part of their fundraising campaign, donors were able to pledge funds for a copy of the story and a monster plush friend to match the monster character from the book and song.
“We wanted the kids to be able to put themselves in that position and have their own little monster friend,” Lemos explained.
According to Lemos, the band plans to produce more plush toys in the future in conjunction with local artists, but are currently unable to have a toy with every book.
“We want to make something really nice,” Lemos said, concerning the monster plush. “We definitely will be selling them in the future.”
The band is working to create more copies of the book and increase availability in a variety of stores.
Now a professional saxophone player in the Matt Goss show at the Mirage, Lemos met his bandmate Thibeault through the music scene in Las Vegas. The duo formed the Nik Naks in June.
The band’s fundraising campaign went above its $5,000 goal in just one month, and the funds will support the costs for producing and publishing more copies of the book.
The band’s fundraising campaign ended July 10, but the campaign site will continue to function as a store for the books and other projects.
“We love making kids music; we have kids,” Lemos said. “That’s the reason that we made this band, we’re immersed in children all day long.”
Lemos is the father of two girls and Thibeault has two sons, making it easy for them to be in the headspace of children.
Despite the band only existing for a month, the group has plans and projects for the future.
“We already have another song we’re gonna make a book for,” Lemos said.
For more information on the band and its products, visit www.theniknaks.com.
Contact reporter Jayme Sileo at jsileo@bouldercityreview.com.